Maciej Sieńczyk

BORN 1972, Warszawa

Sieńczyk approaches the comic-book medium in a very personal way, parodying and exploiting its patterns. His drawings, illustrations, and cartoons are inhabited by both fictional and historical figures, from a dancing monkey from Rogalin to Ignacy Łukasiewicz, the inventor of the kerosene lamp. The reality he evokes in his work is somewhat suggestive of the pre-1989 Polish reality. Maciej Sieńczyk has worked for the Lampa literary monthly and the culture periodical Exklusiv. Among the books he has illustrated are three novels by Dorota Masłowska, Adam Wiedemann’s Filtry, and a reissue of Michał Witkowski’s Lubiewo. His first full-size comic book, Hydriola, was published in 2005, and another Wrzątkun, in 2009.

In Memory of Władysław Broniewski

“In Memory of Władysław Broniewski was commissioned by Paweł Dunin-Wąsowicz, the editor of Lampa, as part of the exhibition on Broniewski at the Raster gallery,” the artist explains. “I was given a poetry volume from which I chose an early poem, Herbs, inspired by French symbolism. It is melancholic and features the motifs of dream and death, which I feel close to. After a bit of painful effort, In Memory… was created. My portrait of Broniewski doesn’t look at all like the man himself. This is how I wanted to dissociate myself from the practice of illustrating other people’s text and discourage the editor from presenting me with such commissions in the future. The plot, too, is completely inconsistent with the poem it illustrates.”

In Memory of Władysław Broniewski

“In Memory of Władysław Broniewski was commissioned by Paweł Dunin-Wąsowicz, the editor of Lampa, as part of the exhibition on Broniewski at the Raster gallery,” the artist explains. “I was given a poetry volume from which I chose an early poem, Herbs, inspired by French symbolism. It is melancholic and features the motifs of dream and death, which I feel close to. After a bit of painful effort, In Memory… was created. My portrait of Broniewski doesn’t look at all like the man himself. This is how I wanted to dissociate myself from the practice of illustrating other people’s text and discourage the editor from presenting me with such commissions in the future. The plot, too, is completely inconsistent with the poem it illustrates.”

In Memory of Władysław Broniewski

“In Memory of Władysław Broniewski was commissioned by Paweł Dunin-Wąsowicz, the editor of Lampa, as part of the exhibition on Broniewski at the Raster gallery,” the artist explains. “I was given a poetry volume from which I chose an early poem, Herbs, inspired by French symbolism. It is melancholic and features the motifs of dream and death, which I feel close to. After a bit of painful effort, In Memory… was created. My portrait of Broniewski doesn’t look at all like the man himself. This is how I wanted to dissociate myself from the practice of illustrating other people’s text and discourage the editor from presenting me with such commissions in the future. The plot, too, is completely inconsistent with the poem it illustrates.”

In Memory of Władysław Broniewski

“In Memory of Władysław Broniewski was commissioned by Paweł Dunin-Wąsowicz, the editor of Lampa, as part of the exhibition on Broniewski at the Raster gallery,” the artist explains. “I was given a poetry volume from which I chose an early poem, Herbs, inspired by French symbolism. It is melancholic and features the motifs of dream and death, which I feel close to. After a bit of painful effort, In Memory… was created. My portrait of Broniewski doesn’t look at all like the man himself. This is how I wanted to dissociate myself from the practice of illustrating other people’s text and discourage the editor from presenting me with such commissions in the future. The plot, too, is completely inconsistent with the poem it illustrates.”